JJ Wetherholt: No sophomore slump for West Virginia star
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (BVM) 鈥� The West Virginia Mountaineers are atop the Big 12 rankings and have been one of the better 海角社区 this baseball season. As if that wasn鈥檛 good enough, the Mountaineers offensive juggernaut, sophomore second baseman JJ Wetherholt, is putting together an historic season.聽
Wetherholt currently leads the nation in batting average (.466) at the plate this year. He, along with projected No. 1 overall pick in the LSU鈥檚 Dylan Crews and FAU鈥檚 Nolan Schanuel, could become the first Power 5 players since Buster Posey to have over a .450 batting average. Wetherholt鈥檚 play has people saying he should be in contention for the Golden Spikes Award.
鈥淚 think a lot of the stuff has just come with maturity and that year of playing,鈥� Wetherholt said. 鈥淎s a freshman you can kind of get sped up and now I feel like the games are slowing down just a tick.鈥澛�
Opposing pitchers better hope it doesn鈥檛 slow down anymore because Wetherholt is already hitting basically anything that he likes, and he likes any pitch in the zone.
鈥淚 like to swing at any pitches in the zone that I see and because I feel like I have confidence that I can hit any pitch,鈥� Wetherholt said.聽
The Mars, Pennsylvania native is backing up that confidence with cold, hard stats. His OPS is 1.359, he has 56 RBIs and through more than 50 games he has less than 20 strikeouts. It鈥檚 an amazing season but naturally, Wetherholt is far more focused on the Mountaineers success. West Virginia is No. 12 in the nation and leads the Big 12.聽
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e in the best spot I could鈥檝e ever imagined,鈥� Wetherholt said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing really well, things are clicking pretty good. Gotta clean a couple things up like always, just play a little more consistent baseball but we鈥檙e in a great spot.鈥澛�
With the team success and the box office attraction that is Wetherholt, Morgantown has quickly become a baseball town. The fans are showing out and West Virginia has now gotten used to playing in front of sell-out crowds at home.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 been awesome man, people are really starting to care about college baseball here which is everything a baseball player could ever imagine or ever want,鈥� Wetherholt said.聽
鈥淲e definitely feed off the energy we get from them.鈥澛�
It鈥檚 been an amazing ride but one that isn鈥檛 over yet. The Mountaineers are enjoying themselves but are focused on finishing out the season. Last year, a late slump and back-to-back losses in the conference championship cost them a chance to play in the postseason.聽
West Virginia has learned from that and the team is better for it. It is the same thing with the Mountaineers star player. A year under his belt has done wonders to Wetherholt.
Wetherholt made the Big 12 All-Freshman Team last year and posted a .308 batting average with 39 RBIs as well as an .882 OPS. However, Wetherholt said he did struggle once conference play started last season but did get hot during the last home stretch. Using that momentum, he spent the summer working on a few things while also getting healthy via procedures on both knees.聽
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be happy with just one good year and you have to find a way to replicate it,鈥� Wetherholt said about his freshman season with West Virginia.
He not only replicated it but has improved in basically every facet of the game. According to West Virginia鈥檚 second baseman, the series against Arizona at the beginning of the season was one of the first indicators that the sophomore had turned a page in his baseball career. Wetherholt went 7-for-13 over four games with four RBIs and two home runs.
The second indicator came when his production didn鈥檛 slow down once conference play started.聽
鈥淥pening up against Kansas State that was a big series for me,鈥� Wetherholt said. 鈥淟ike I said previously, my freshman year my first conference week I think I went 1-for-9 with like five or six strikeouts. It was a brutal start. That opening conference weekend, that was a big test for me to see how far have I really come because conference play is little bit of a different brand of baseball; it鈥檚 that next step up.鈥�
Wetherholt is more confident at the plate, he鈥檚 learned to have a short memory when it comes to bad at bats and it鈥檚 showing in the boxscore. Combine all that with his swing which has led to one of the better offensive seasons by a Power 5 player in the last 20 years.聽
It鈥檚 not surprising that he is in the running for the Golden Spikes Award and that his team is also thriving while he鈥檚 playing so well. Wetherholt has become a go-to guy for the Mountaineers and a star in Morgantown.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely something that I鈥檓 still trying to get used to,鈥� Wetherholt said about his rise to stardom.聽
Based on his recent history, Wetherholt will work on it over the summer and be ready for next year. In the meantime, he still has work to do with West Virginia as they try to make it to the College World Series.聽
